The older son was angry and
would not go in to the party. So his father went out and begged him to come in.
– Luke 15:28 (ERV)
Beloved, let’s continue from where we left off yesterday. May
God give us clarity as we journey into His Word.
So, we saw that coming into himself, the younger son was
able to regain a sense of lucidity even in a pigsty mess; something that anyone
of us can apply to our own messiness.
The prodigal’s return journey started in that pigsty.
So he left and went to his
father. – Luke 15:20a (ERV)
He began walking back to his father, rehearsing exactly what
he is going say to him.
I will say to him: Father, I
have sinned against God and have done wrong to you. I am no longer worthy to be
called your son. But let me be like one of your hired workers.’ –
Luke 15:18-19 (ERV)
Remember, coming into himself, he has clarity of thought so,
it’s a humble, carefully worded admission from a son to his father. Now close
to home, the father, on seeing him coming, did something that no respectable
elder, in those days, would ever have done – he ran.
“But while he was still a
long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran
to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. – Luke 15:20 (NIV)
Understand that men of status did not run, at least not in
public; the father’s behaviour would have been considered undignified, a transgression
of the cultural standards of honour but he could care less at that moment.
The younger son was only able to partially deliver his
speech, as the father, filled with compassion
for him, seems not to have heard a word he said (see v 21-24). The compassion
with which the father was filled is “splagchnizomai”, a powerful Greek verb
describing gut-wrenching emotion; this tells us that the father’s response to seeing
his son wasn’t polite; something deep inside his body moved even before his
feet moved.
His son never got to the part of his carefully rehearsed
speech where he intended to say to his father, make
me like one of your hired servants because
his father was already calling for the best robe, a ring and sandals to be put
on his younger son.
Take note that the father sends for the best robe, but this
robe wasn’t just the best, it was the finest robe in the house, the robe of the
highest quality. This was no ordinary gesture since, along with the ring and
the sandals, this signified the restoration of the younger son’s status.
You see, in those days, a ring was a signet, a seal used
throughout the ancient, civilized world as a mark of authenticity and authority,
it ratified important documents and agreements. Every person of standing possessed
a signet ring.
Jesus’ first-century audience would have known the
significance of these items; they would have understood that the ring was not simply
a piece of sentimental jewellery but a sign that the younger son’s place in the
family was permanently reinstated.
The party started.
Bring the fattened calf and
kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead
and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
(NIV)
But what about the father’s older son; the older brother?
Where is he while all this is happening?
Verse 25 answers that question: The
older son had been out in the field.
He hadn’t a clue what was going on, he just happened to hear
music and dancing as he came near to the house.
Remember in yesterdays blog post I said of this parable, “suppose
it’s a lesson about two things that happens in our own minds, our thought
process”, well if the younger son was the first thing, then the older son
is the second.
The older son had been out in the field all day. The older
son never left to go to a far country. The older son did not waste the
substance he was given. The older son stayed and worked like one of the father’s
hired servants.
So he called to one of the
servant boys and asked, ‘What does all this mean?’ The boy said, ‘Your
brother has come back, and your father killed the best calf to eat. He is happy
because he has his son back safe and sound.’ – Luke 15:26-27 (ERV)
The older son was angry. The older son does not go inside the
house – he would not go in.
The Greek word for his reaction is “orgisthe” – this was not
a burst of temper that may soon cool down, no, this was seething fury. The older
son’s issue wasn’t that he got angry, it’s what he did with that anger.
Incidentally, Apostle Paul, speaking to the Ephesians, used
the same Greek word when he said,
When you are angry, don’t let
that anger make you sin, and don’t stay angry all day. – Ephesians
4:26 (ERV)
The father went out to a son for the second time that night.
Yet again, the father is the one who moves first. He approached the older son who
was standing furious in the darkness and begged him to come in but he would not
go in.
Then finally, the older son confesses to his father what had
been churning inside him all along. His words were direct.
Look! All these years I’ve
been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
The older son felt that he had served as a slave, “douleuo”;
he felt that his father did not consider him a son, but as property working for
a master. Continuing to voice his complaint, he said,
Yet you never gave me even a
young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of
yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home,
you kill the fattened calf for him! – Luke 15:29-30 (NIV)
By referring to his younger brother as, this son of yours, the older brother distanced
himself entirely from his brother.
Now, pay attention to the father’s response, for it speaks
to the out-in-the-field mindset.
The father does not argue, instead his answer is quiet,
steady, compassionate and in his response to his older son’s burning anger, is the
key to this parable’s clearest lesson. In it, correction occurs.
My son, the father said, you
are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to
celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive
again; he was lost and is found. – Luke 15:31-32 (NIV)
When the father tells his older son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours,
in Greek, “panta ta ema sa estin”, it’s reassurance to his son that “all that
is mine is yours” (see John 17).
And then, when the father referred to the younger son as, this brother of yours, he effectively draws
the relationship between his two sons back together.
Remember in yesterday’s blog post we learnt that the father
had divided his “bios”, his life, between his two sons. Well, that’s what’s
happening again at the end of this parable but it’s not a word that the father is
repeating, it is an offer.
The older son always had access to everything, but he didn’t
see that and never bothered to ask the father for the
fattened calf; he just served slavishly instead of asking.
The older son is a portrait of those who never leave, toil
in the field all day long, keep every rule, while at the same time is resentful
of the person who doesn’t but still gets a celebratory welcome home.
Beloved, Jesus told a parable with no definite conclusion
because it is up to you and me to figure out the direction we’re headed. Are
you walking toward the Father or are you just standing outside in the field
doing all the so-called right things but refusing to go in because you’re
harbouring anger?
You must see yourself in the parable. These sons were never
two different people. They are two different parts of a person – of you.
The younger son is the part of you that goes off searching
for what you think you’re missing out on in the world. Squandering your
attention and energy afar off in no particular place until you have nothing
left and realize that you have no choice but to return home to your father.
Then there’s the other part of you, the older son, the part that
thinks you should stay home, close to everything good, religiously keep every
rule, and do everything right, but still you don’t enter the joy that is right
in front of you, joy that’s always been at your disposal.
And then there’s the father, the one who divided his own
life into you, not as two separate entities but you as a whole; He is the one
who ran to you and stepped into the darkness for you; He is the one who tells
you that everything I have is already yours.
The door is accessible, the music is playing and the Father
is waiting, asking, and inviting you, every part of you to come in. Would you go in?
Amen †
Shelley Johnson “He would not go in Part 2” © 2026 August 5, 2026
